Robert Bennett: Hamas and its financial priorities

JoeBlow"Using the same logic, what does US spending priorities say
about our country? Have you looked at our defense budget lately?"

Without the world's most powerful military you can count on other nations
on our doorstep with serious challenges.

RedShirtUSS Enterprise, UT

July 29, 2014 1:02 p.m.

To "southmtnman" yes, we do consider the Hamas position on this issue.
According to the Hamas charter. Hamas is founded on Genocide of the Jewish
people. Their charter states "Israel will exist and will continue to exist
until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
They also state "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems
fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and
trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind
me, come and kill him." Their charter also says that they will not give
into peace agreements with the Jews. Their charter says "Initiatives, and
so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction
to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement."

So, they
say kill the Jews and no peace with the Jews, and our government is so arrogant
that they think they can change the mind of the leader of Hamas.

The Real MaverickOrem, UT

July 28, 2014 10:26 a.m.

Hamas is being fueled in part due to the way Israel treats Palestine.

Think of it this way, if a group of Muslims took over temple square, kicked
the Mormons out of The Salt Lake Valley, and then build luxurious condos and
apartments throughout utah while the rest of Utah struggled in poverty, how
would the Mormons react?

If Israel really wants peace, then they need
to send aid and education, not missiles and destruction, to Palestine. If Israel
wants to end suicide bombers, then stop building luxurious suites right across
from a Palestinian ghetto.

Seeing things through the eyes of a
Palestinian would change the situation altogether.

Unfortunately,
Israel is focused only on themselves and the American Christian Right has no
interest in helping Palestine. If anything, the increased violence helps the
right promote their "rapture" doctrine to further bring the masses (and
money) to corrupt televangelists like Pat Robertson and James Dobson who laugh
all the way to the bank.

GaryOVirginia Beach, VA

July 28, 2014 8:37 a.m.

“How many schools and homes could have been built with that expenditure of
time, money and effort . . . ?”

We could ask ourselves that as
well. And Eisenhower did ask that. He answered it too.

“The
cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30
cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000
population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of
concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of
wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more
than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true
sense.” – Dwight Eisenhower

Eisenhower warned us of the
military industrial complex and the damage it can cause our nation if left
unchecked.

Of course, that was back in the days when Republican
leaders strived to be actual public servants instead of demagoguing
showboats.

We spend more money on our military than the next eight
highest spending nations combined.

JoeBlowFar East USA, SC

July 28, 2014 7:45 a.m.

"I like Bennett. He seems reasonable most of the time."

I
agree. But, that is why he lost his job. Cant have "reasonable" people
running our government.

southmtnmanProvo, UT

July 28, 2014 7:04 a.m.

I like Bennett. He seems reasonable most of the time.

But this
article begs an important question: WHY is it the "real goal" of Hamas
"to kill as many Israelis as possible, in as many places as possible, for as
long as possible, until Israel was finally destroyed"? - assuming that is a
fair description of what Hamas is really about, which is debatable.

Do Utahns generally, and LDS members specifically, ever consider the
Palestinian perspective on this situation?

JoeBlowFar East USA, SC

July 28, 2014 5:28 a.m.

"How many schools and homes could have been built with that expenditure of
time, money and effort"

It is easy to look at foreign countries
or organizations and ask such questions.

How about we start asking
these types of questions in the USA before we engage in foreign wars that have
little or no affect on us.

"A good test of an
organization’s priorities is what it spends its money on, particularly
when money is scarce"

Using the same logic, what does US spending
priorities say about our country? Have you looked at our defense budget lately?

David KingLayton, UT

July 28, 2014 5:05 a.m.

While there are many valid criticisms of Hamas, I don't think "the way
they spend their money shows their real priorities" is one we want to pursue
very long, unless Senator Bennett is cleverly trying to get us to ask some tough
questions about our budget in the US.

We spend more on defense than
the next dozen nations combined. What does that say about us?